Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-06-28
DAILY HERALD.
THE BALLOON.
II makes a Beautiful ana sue
eessful Ascent.


About 1900 people assembled at 'he
sixth.street Base Ball grounds yester.
day morning, to witness the ascension Oh
the mammoth Examiner gas balloon
All seemed confident that start wouIu
be made and, in const quence, early III
the morning the grounds were crowded
with a surging mass of people, all anS'
ions to observe the slightest preliminary
nreparat;ops fer the ascent. The men
in charge of tie affairs were tefrioiy an'
moved and impeded in their movements,
bv a multitude of small boys who wouiu
persist in hugging as close as possible 10
the base of the mammoth bag. On sun
day night ut : o'clock the gas was smut
off from the main, and until yesterday
morning at 7 o'clock the silken bag
foated to and fro in the breeze, carefully
guarded by a watchman, whose duty 1t
was to keep curious people from coming
in the proximity, with lighted cigars
and also to prevent any one from tam
perinq with the balloon. A balloon
ascension is as hazardous trip as can
be imagined, and if everything is not
exactlv in place, the lives of the occu-
pants of the wicker basket are endan-
gered from the start.
At 7 o'clock yesterday morning the
Gas Company's superintendent ap-
peared at the park and to tho great
pleasure of all concerned turned the Key
and allowe ed the flow of gas to Hood into
the floating chariot. For four hours and
a quarter it continued to flow, and grad
uaily but perceptably the balloon began
to taper off, and present an appearance
of filling. At ll:l5 o'clock the gas was
shut oil, the balloon being about three.
fiftbs inflated. The otficlal of the com.
pany explained that the corporation re.
pretted that it could not furnish hydro
gen enough to fully initiate the bag. UP
10 the moment of turning II the gas the
company had been taxed 10 its utmost
capacity. OF course the corporation has
to see that sufficient gas is stored to sup
ply its patrons. Although many OF
them were over anxious to see the ascen-
sion, they would not be half as enthusi-
astic if they would lind their homes In
total darkness on returning. The gen
tleman said that the company has EN-.
ployed larger force OF men, and has
done al! in Its power to please the people
by expecting the trip. By the operation
they have lost money, but they are new
ertheless pleased with their efforts.
Immediately upon shutting of tie gas
Van Tassel set to work to prepare the
balloon for the trip. The small boys
were utilized, and, with their assistance,
the sand bags attached TO the netting
were gradually moved to the center OF
the grounds, so that when the start was
made the ballon would have clear
sweep, and not come in contact with
the fences nor projecting chimney-tops
in the neighboihood. The netting
cords were then carefully fastened to
the basket. and the bag was allowed to
slowly float upwards until the ropes be-
came tight. The crowd restrained the
swaying, growing mass Of silk.
slump in" Van Tassel said to
Husher, and. with the agility of cat,
the brave little photographer obeyed.
He Immediately proceeded to arrange
the contents of the car, which consisted
of his apparatus, bundle of advertis.
ing cards and couple of bags of sand.
When all WAS in readiness Van Tas.
sci sprang on the side of the basket, and
drawing huge jack. knife, he severed
the cord that held the inflated sphere IN
bondage, at tie same time calling to
his companion to throw out one Of TIE
bags of ballast. With an easy, graceful
SWING. the balloon gently scared heaven.
ward, amid tumultuous applause and
cheering from the delighted crowd.
The balloon as il rose from the park
passed up onto Bunker Hill avenue, and
gettiDg higher into the upper currents
was carried due west over the Belmont
hotel and the Brea ranch beyond the
city. It's course thence was across the
mountains about one-third of the dis
tance south of the Cahuepga pass toward
Santa Monica, passing the north corner
of the Vincente ranch, and the south
corner of Ell Encino ranch. As last
seen from the city it was being let
down seemingly to catch the lower air
current from the sea so as to take an
inland course along the line of the
mountains toward the San Gabriel
valley.
Frank Ward, of Pasadena, was on
hand, trembling all over with feeling
of suppressed excitement, in contem-
plation of the trip he expected to take.
He was dumbfounded when informed by
Van Tass el that it was an impossibility
to take him. As it was the lifting Ca
pacity Of the balloon was heavily taxed,
so much so that only 100 pounds OF
ballast could be taken, which
made it impossible for the eronaut to
estimate the speed with which the de.
scent would be made. In fact they
dreaded to look at the light supply Of
sand.
Mr.. Husher spoke very enthusiastic.
ally at his expectations regarding the
photographs. He said that the day was
an unusually clear one, and he predicted
that his negatives would be even better
than these taken during the last trip
en- San Francisco. When the balloon
cendtd j. S. Kaneen, the superin.
t of the Gas Company, proceeded
tain why the flow of gas was
d. Twelve feet from the mouth
tipe a wad of paper was found
packed against the joint. The
the paper was coated with tar,
so that it adhered to the edge of the
pipe and almost totally prevented the
dow Of gas. If it were not for this
pi.ce of vandalism the superintendent
stated positively that the balloon would
have been inflated on Sunday, and the
ascension would have been made, and
the vast concourse of people, many OF
whom came from long distance, would
loon 1napeH fn 6ignDnoint
ment. Mr.. Kaneen, seemed consider
ably surprised at the discovery, and he
eonld NOT understand how the pipe was
stopped up when there was watch.
man employed to prevent anything of
,ha kind should it be attempted.
The balloon Landed at 40 o'clock in
the San Fernando Valley, about twelve
miles distant, after having been up a
little over two hours. Prof. Van Tassel
and Mr.. Husher were met as soon as
Nj III ~.